I have thoroughly enjoyed working in my Dylusions Journal this past year, and after watching the inspiring tutorial video posted by Roben-Marie Smith, I felt called to participate in The Original Documented Life Project™ The Journal!

Each month, there’s a theme. And each week there’s an art related challenge and creative journal prompt.I love that we are encouraged to interpret both however we wish! January’s ThemeThe Blank Page and How to Face It! January 1 Challenge & Prompt Art Challenge: Book Paper Journal Prompt: Be Your Own Goal KeeperAfter watching the tutorial videos by Roben-Marie Smith, Rae Missigman, and Lorraine Bell, I was super-inspired! I tried combining techniques from each in my own art journal spread.

To begin, I tore and collaged a variety of papers onto my art journal pages, adhering these with gel medium:

I had a plethora of papers to choose from: old book pages, security envelopes, sheet music, steno paper, survey maps, paper rulers and a variety of graph papers...thanks to Mary Beth Shaw bringing me to the St. Louis Teachers' Recycle Center on Saturday!!

I also found these cool add-on pockets at the St. Louis Teachers' Recycle Center, and collaged papers onto one of these as well:

Once the gel medium dried completely, I brushed a thin layer of gesso onto the right-hand page and add-on pocket to give the papers cohesion. Then I grabbed my DecoArt Media fluid acrylics! I added Burnt Umber around the edges of the page and the pocket to give it a vintage look:

Next, I added Hansa Yellow Light, Green Gold, Blue-Green Light and used Mary Beth Shaw's December StencilClub stencil to create the year "2015" and Carolyn Dube's Uplifting Words stencilto add the word "go." I love that the word "go" is the beginning of the word "goals!" A few black letter decals completed the word "goals":

I brushed on Cobalt Teal Hue, Cobalt Turquoise Hue and Naphthol Red Light and added fun month stickers Mary Beth Shaw gave me from the St. Louis Teachers' Recycle Center, too. I tore a piece of lined paper to fit inside the add-on pocket; I'll list my 2015 goals on this paper. On the left-hand side of this spread, I made notes about the variety of papers I incorporated in the process of creating the page on the right-hand side.